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EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Urges Feds to Roll Back Obama-Era Ban on Collecting Immigration Data in Schools

Rep. Chip Roy. (Office of Rep. Chip Roy)

Pedro Boccalato Rodriguez-Aparicio is a journalism fellow at The Daily Signal. Send an email to Pedro.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is urging two federal agencies to rescind an Obama-era policy he says has prevented states from collecting basic immigration-status data in public schools.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Roy argued that a 2011 Department of Education “civil rights guidance” has had “the practical effect of chilling lawful data collection by states and local educational agencies.”

Roy contends that the policy, which is framed as a “civil rights guidance,” has discouraged states and school districts from gathering information they need to manage their education systems.

“As a result of that policy, states like Texas and various school board associations across the country have avoided collecting basic immigration-status data—even where such information would be critical for resource allocation, program design, and long-term planning,” Roy wrote.

The Obama administration memo that resulted in the policy claims that “the undocumented or noncitizen status of a student (or his or her parent or guardian) is irrelevant to that student’s entitlement to an elementary and secondary public-school education,.”

But Roy argues this guidance has left schools unable to “allocate resources, ensure accountability, and serve students effectively,” particularly in states that have experienced large increases in illegal immigration.

Roy also warned that the memo is federal government overreach.

“States and local educational agencies have full authority and discretion to determine what data they collect in order to operate their education systems effectively,” he wrote. “States must be able to govern—and to gather the information necessary to do so—without fear of federal reprisal.”

The push to overturn the policy follows a recent hearing held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, which Roy chairs, examining whether Congress can challenge the Supreme Court’s 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe.

That decision held that states cannot deny public education to children unlawfully present in the United States. Critics have argued that the ruling has dramatically expanded illegal aliens’ access to taxpayer-funded benefits.

“These enrollments have cost Texans $1.9 billion, and the United States $78 billion in total,” Roy said during the hearing.

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